history
Review of Centennial by Fergus M. Bordewich
Who attended the Great Fair? A proverbial melting pot of Americans from all walks of life, for one thing. “There were ordinary Americans of all kinds, war veterans from both North and South, presidential candidates, celebrities ranging from P.T. Barnum to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Mark Twain.” There was a distinctive international flavor, too. “Foreign visitors numbered in the hundreds of thousands,” Bordewich writes, “most famous among them Emperor Don Pedro II of Brazil, the first foreign head of state ever to visit the United States, who loved the Exposition so much that he often wandered among the crowds in disguise.”
TL;DR
- The Great Fair of 1876, also known as the Centennial International Exhibition, celebrated 100 years of American achievement in Philadelphia.
- Nearly 10 million visitors viewed exhibits on agriculture, art, machinery, and mining, featuring inventions by Thomas Edison and the Corliss Engine.
- The fair displayed early elements of the Statue of Liberty and attracted diverse attendees, including celebrities and Emperor Don Pedro II of Brazil.
- The event also highlighted societal issues such as the struggles of Black Americans, the feminist movement, and Native American conflicts.
- Key figures like Alexander Graham Bell, Edmonia Lewis, Thomas A. Scott, and Rutherford B. Hayes represented different aspects of the nation's evolving identity.
- The book 'Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America’s Future' by Fergus M. Bordewich explores these themes, contrasting the fair's grandeur with America's underlying fissures.